Though coverage has not been as “in-your-face” as it was just after the scandal broke out, the social media giant is now being investigated by four government agencies namely:

The justice department

FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

FTC (Federal Trade Commission)

These four agencies are not sure if Facebook are actually as blind as they claim to be. During this entire period, Facebook have placed blame on Aleksandr Kogan- the developer who developed the quiz app that harvested user data and sold it to Cambridge Analytica. The proverb that says “when one finger is pointing at someone, three are pointing back at you,” is very apt. Facebook were pointing at Kogan all along but now regulators are more interested in their involvement in this fracus.

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Do as you say..

The four government agencies were initially keen to know what Cambridge Analytica’s involvement was but slowly they have shifted their focus to Facebook. The agencies are interested in probing Facebook over statements and the actions they made in response to the leak.

A former director of the F.T.C.’s Bureau of Consumer Protection David Vladeck has taken the probes by four government agencies to mean Facebook could be in dire trouble:

The fact that the Justice Department, the F.B.I., the S.E.C. and the F.T.C. are sitting down together does raise serious concerns. It does raise all sorts of red flags.

Regulation is probably on its way

It is believed that from the onset, Congress was already agitated by Zuckerberg’s failure to tip them off about some of the more questionable data practices at the tech firm. One such incident, is Facebook’s partnerships with Chinese phone companies. Facebook shared real user-data to help manufacturers build Facebook functionality into their products. The data was shared through APIs and was inclusive of personal info such as religious/political affiliation about users, their friends and friends of friends.